WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Pearle conference Stockholm – December 2009 Agenda point 10

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Official title: Council Directive 93/104/EC concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time Its amendment: Directive 2000/34/EC The Working Time Directive is a collection of regulations concerning hours of work, designed to protect the health and safety of workers Aim of the Directive: to lay down minimum safety and health requirements for the organization of working time P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Its key features are: the limiting of the maximum length of a working week to 48 hours in 7 days, but the Directive allows member states to opt out from that provision; It also regulates reference period resting time and on- call time; a minimum rest period of 11 hours in each 24 hours; a minimum number of paid leave days per annum. Opt out: United Kingdom - possible to opt out of the 48 hour working week in order to work longer hours. France has passed more strict legislation, limiting the maximum working week to 35 hours. P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Structure of the Directive: IV Sections: SECTION I SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS SECTION II MINIMUM REST PERIODS — OTHER ASPECTS OF THE ORGANIZATION OF WORKING TIME SECTION III NIGHT WORK — SHIFT WORK — PATTERNS OF WORK SECTION IV MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE The Directive provides the following definitions: Working Time; Rest Period; Shift work night; Worker rest period; Daily rest Breaks; Weekly rest period; Maximum weekly working time; Annual leave; Reference Period etc. P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Why revision of the Directive was necessary? Because of ECJ interpretation -"SIMAP" and "Jaeger" judgments: - The SIMAP judgment defined all time when the worker was required to be present on site as actual working hours, for the purposes of work and rest calculations. - The Jaeger judgment confirmed that this was the case even if the worker was allowed to sleep when their services were not required. P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE 5 years of the debate 27th April 2009 Council and the EP were not able to reach agreement - first time that no agreement could be found via conciliation committee since the Amsterdam Treaty Why? EP and Council could not find a compromise on three crucial points: the opt-out, on-call time and multiple contracts. P5945

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE Future Prospects: The new Commission would have to start the whole legislative process from the beginning. In the beginning of 2010 – Consultation paper on the Working Time Directive will be published. P5945

Activities of Pearle since proposal for revision in 2004 Under art 138 of the Treaty Pearle was consulted as social partner in the pre- legislative process of the Commission In addition (see co-decision procedure) : letters, position papers to EP and to Council P5945

Issues at stake for Pearle Compensatory rest => to be taken within a reasonable period Reference period => preferably 12 months Inactive on-call time =>only when at the workplace Opt-out => should remain possible Multiple contract => no means for employers to verify Reconciliation work and family life => specific work pattern of the live performance In short - WTD should only deal with the core elements – providing a framework - MS and social partners to have flexibility P5945

Expected Next legislative proposal:  Impact assessment (new guidelines): - increasing involvement of social partners and (other) stakeholders - improving social side of IA - involvement of social partners - call for more evidence-based information => Social partner consultation P5945